The present invention relates to a new and distinct perennial variety of Liriope muscari, which has been given the variety denomination of ‘LIRSS’. Its market class is that of an ornamental flowering perennial. ‘LIRSS’ is intended for use in landscaping and also in garden containers. Liriope muscari, commonly called “lilyturf”, is an evergreen perennial native to China and Japan that forms clumps of dark green grass-like leaves with light lavender flower spikes that appear in summer. Its consistent size and performance through its hardiness range make it an ideal choice for specimen, borders and mass plantings in any filtered sun to shady, low maintenance landscape or container.
Parentage: In April 2007, a basal shoot with a higher degree of white striations was discovered growing from an unnamed variegated Liriope muscari stock plant (unpatented) at a wholesale nursery in Oakville, New South Wales, Australia. The instant mutation was isolated from the mother plant by way of dividing the plant's crown and said mutation was potted into a nursery container for further observation. The resulting plant was further grown and asexually propagated through five generations from April 2007 until January 2011, at which time it was determined that the characteristics for which the instant mutation was originally isolated were uniform and stable. The new plant was given the name ‘LIRSS’
Asexual Reproduction: ‘LIRSS’ was first asexually propagated by dividing the root-bearing, rhizomatous propagules of the plant (i.e. “division cloning”) in April of 2007 at a wholesale nursery in Oakville, New South Wales, Australia and has since been asexually propagated through five subsequent generations. The distinctive characteristics of the inventive ‘LIRSS’ variety are stable from generation to generation; clones of the variety produced by asexual reproduction maintain the distinguishing characteristics of the original plant.